Ardo, who comes from a Jewish family that fled the Holocaust moving from Communist Czechoslovakia to Israel as a child before coming to the United States, uses these credentials to justify his position.

While it is important to note that while he is certainly entitled to his opinion, which seem to be based in substantive facts, it is also important to note that these assertions, reports and allegations are really rooted in misinformation, conspiracy theory, anti-Israel propaganda and represent a complete distortion of many facts and avoidance of others.

To Ardo's credit he states that "Israel, like any other country, has the right to defend itself..." and that, "...criticizing Israeli action should not be mistaken for defending Hamas terrorism."

Yet with relatively flimsy references he seeks to hold Israel accountable as a "persecutor."

In doing so he actually makes a case for the justification of Hamas's ongoing rocket attacks on sovereign Israel territory and tunnels into Israel that cause terrorist mayhem. His argument does not hold the terrorists accountable or allow for Israel to deal with the realities of being under attack.

First, Ardo asserts that the widely respected Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesperson for the Israeli police "reportedly" told BBC Journalist Jon Dennison, that the kidnapping of the three Israeli youths were not the work of Hamas after all.

While this sounds like fact, it is an allegation and reported, but not corroborated and although the reports have been widely circulated, they are simply allegations and not necessarily true.

Second, Mr.Ardo argues that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position that Israel is acting in self-defense in Gaza is "in question."

It is with complete disregard for the fact that since the Gaza transfer to complete Palestinian control during the Ariel Sharon administration, nearly 20,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza upon Israeli sovereign territory. This has created a siege mentality for the residents of Southern Israel.

Ardo ignores the importance of the well-constructed military tunnels into Israel which were created to attack this September for a full-scale Rosh Hashanah invasion of Israel to create death and destruction for civilians.

Ardo also asserts that Hamas' rockets have come into Israel primarily as a result of Israel's military incursions into Gaza.

Let us remember that when Sharon turned Gaza over to the Palestinians it was greeted with promises to turn Gaza into the "Singapore of the Middle East."

Instead, the Gazans turned to Hamas and Hamas turned Gaza into a military staging area to escalate their well-stated mission to eradicate Israel. Cement for building Singapore of the Middle East went to cement for building Lower Gaza into Israel to attack militarily via tunnels.

Here is one other fact that Mr. Ardo failed to mention which has been documented, but not widely reported. At least 160 Palestinian children have been known to have died in the building of these military tunnels. These are the facts above ground, on the ground and below the ground.

Finally, and this is probably the most insidious and deceptive of Mr. Ardo's misrepresentation of the facts, is his reference to what he refers to as "Israel's long adhered to military strategy, known as the 'Dahiya Doctrine.' allowing the targeting of government and civilian infrastructure during military operations as a means of inducing suffering for the civilian population.

The fact of the matter is that the alleged "doctrine" as a long held military strategy is a semantic fabrication crafted by well-known anti-Israel UN diplomat Richard Falk, now an academic in California who has suggested it has been standard operating procedure of the Israeli military.

Yes, it was a strategy of disproportionate urban warfare used once in Lebanon in 2006 and was deemed not to have optimal outcomes and has been a controversial strategy ever since and not used.

Many Israelis and military people have no knowledge of such a "doctrine" as it doesn't exist except in the minds of anti-Israel propagandists, who believe that if they continue to repeat the allegation, it will make it so because people will come to believe it.

Given Ardo's history, one would think he knew better and would have more understanding of the centuries-old attempts to dehumanize Jews in their existential fight for a safe and secure homeland by painting them less than human or capable of understanding the suffering of others.

Edward S. Beck, son of a Holocaust survivor,is a retired professor and counselor; Coordinator, International Grassroots Faculty Committee for Academic Freedom and Integrity; President Emeritus and Co-Founder of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, member of the Board of Directors of Historic B'nai Jacob Temple in Middletown, PA and a Past Chair and current member of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Harrisburg.